


When the World is Crashing Down

by Blizzard96



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 10:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12319488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blizzard96/pseuds/Blizzard96
Summary: Minhyun dies. Then he wakes up. Honestly, he's over it at this point.





	When the World is Crashing Down

Minhyun woke up feeling groggy. There was a crick in his neck, and he soon realized he was laying on a very lumpy and uncomfortable couch. After a few more disorienting seconds, he remembered he’d laid down to take a nap before he was forced to go to makeup. Their manager had called for a meeting of all the group’s stylists outside the building before they were supposed to get ready, and he’d decided to try and catch up on some sleep before the show.

“Have a good nap?” a voice asked. Minhyun turned his head to see Daehwi smiling at him from a folding table that had been set up in the lounge. The boy was scrolling through his phone, probably checking their Twitter or something.

“Yes, thank you,” Minhyun stated. He looked around the small lounge to see Jihoon and Guanlin on the other couch in the room and no sign of the others. “What time is it?” he asked.

“1:30,” Daehwi responded. “The stylists should be back in at any time, so we should probably be ready for hair and makeup soon. Minhyun considered just rolling over and going back to sleep. He felt like he hadn't had a proper rest in years.

He was startled by a loud noise, like metal groaning, and the walls shuddered worryingly before stilling. Minhyun saw Daehwi drop his phone in alarm out of the corner of his eye, and Jihoon and Guanlin’s eyes darted around. “Minhyun,” Jihoon began. Suddenly, there was another louder groan and Minhyun watched in horror as the ceiling above Jihoon and Guanlin seemed to dip before cracking apart, an avalanche of debris falling through.

Daehwi screamed, and when the debris settled there was only a hole in the floor where the two boys had been sitting. Minhyun was frozen to the spot, eyes wide and uncomprehending, unable to process what had just happened. 

“Jihoon! Guanlin!” Daehwi was rushing over toward the hole, and Minhyun’s hand instinctively shot out to grab the younger boy’s arm. “Let me go!” Daehwi screamed hysterically, tears beginning to run down his face.

“The floor might still be unstable,” Minhyun found himself saying, though it felt like he was on auto-pilot. He pulled Daehwi back against him, mind racing and trying to put together a plan of action. “We need to find the others and get out of here. The rest of the building’s structure could still be in danger.” 

As soon as he said the words, the numbness in his veins turned to urgency. He pulled a still sobbing Daehwi out of the room and into the hallway, looking around wildly for other members. There was a long crack in the floor in hallway to his right, making him uncertain whether he should try stepping over it. The walls didn’t look much better in that direction, long fissures spiderwebbing outward from the floor’s crack.

“Minhyun! Daehwi!” voices yelled. Minhyun’s head turned back to his left to see Daniel and Seongwoo running up to them. A wave of relief washed through him at how they both appeared relatively unharmed, albeit shaken.

“Oh thank god,” Daniel said once he and Seongwoo had reached them. “There was this huge tremor and part of the wall in the practice room fell down!” He turned his attention to Daehwi, and his eyes widened in concern at the boy’s state. “What happened?”

“Jihoon and Guanlin,” Daehwi managed to choke out, shaking.

“What?!” Seongwoo asked, looking to Minhyun for an explanation.

“The lounge's ceiling caved in,” Minhyun managed. He wasn’t sure he could explain more without panicking himself, and he needed to stay strong and try to get them to safety.

“Oh my god,” Daniel muttered, shellshocked. His gaze darted toward the lounge as if he were about to run in and see if he could rescue the boys himself.

“Where are the others?” Minhyun prompted, trying to keep them on track. “If we can get out, we can hopefully get help, and maybe Jihoon and Guanlin are still alive down there.”

“Uh,” Seongwoo stuttered, clearly still trying to absorb the news about the younger boys. “Sungwoon said he had to use the bathroom.”

“Jisung said he had to make a call and went into another of the practice rooms,” Daniel reported.

“J-Jaehwan, Woojin, and Jinyoung were going to wait in the makeup and hair room,” Daehwi said, wiping at his eyes. “They were supposed to go first.”

“Okay,” Minhyun said, mind racing. He looked around to see the door to the building’s stairs on his left, by some small miracle not down the treacherous hallway. “Daniel and Seongwoo, you two have to get Daehwi outside.”

The three boys immediately protested, but Minhyun silenced them with a look. “Find someone and let them know that Jihoon and Guanlin are in danger,” he pointedly didn’t say the word ‘dead’ lest he distress any of them even more, “I’ll look for the others. Get Daehwi out of here.” Seongwoo looked like he wanted to argue, but Daniel’s face set in determination.

“Okay,” he agreed, pulling Daehwi toward him. “But if it looks dangerous, get out.” He pulled open the door to the stairs and began hurrying down them, Daehwi in tow.

Seongwoo bit his lip and turned to Minhyun. “Just come back, okay?”

“I will,” Minhyun said, sounding far steadier than he felt. Seongwoo nodded shortly before following Daniel and Daehwi down the stairs. The door slammed shut behind him with an air of finality. Minhyun took a breath and set his jaw before turning down the hallway.

“Jisung! Sungwoon!” he yelled, hurrying down the hallway, risking glances through the windows and doorways in case any of the remaining members should be trapped. “Woojin! Jinyoung! Jaehwan!”

“Minhyun!” a voice yelled. Minhyun whipped around from the door he’d been about to look through to see Sungwoon exiting from a door at the end of the hall.

‘That must be the bathroom,’ Minhyun thought. He hurried toward his fellow member, only to be jolted off his feet as the building shook again. Sungwoon was similarly shaken, but managed to stay upright by steadying himself on a wall. With an ominous groan, the floor between them split apart into a giant chasm.

Both boys stared unbelievingly at the split with wide eyes. Sungwoon recovered first. “Just go!” Sungwoon said, waving an arm. “Find the others! I’ll be alright.”

“No, you won’t!” Minhyun argued back, getting to his feet. He gauged the chasm, trying to guess if he could jump across. He hazarded a step closer to the edge, and that was his mistake. The ground gave under his weight, and the last thing he saw was Sungwoon’s horrified expression.

“Minhyun!”

The world went black.

 

* * *

 

Minhyun jolted upright, a ringing in his head. He could barely process his surroundings. Was he dead? No, he didn’t think death would be this uncomfortable. It almost felt like…

“Did you have a bad dream?” Minhyun startled, and turned from where he was, on a couch apparently, to see Daehwi looking at him with concern.

“I…” Minhyun said, trying to understand where he was. It was like the building crumbling had never happened. Had it really all been a dream?

“That sucks,” a voice said. Minhyun almost found himself crying when his eyes landed on Jihoon and Guanlin sitting on the other couch, staring at Minhyun with sympathy. “I had a bad dream the other night,” Jihoon continued obliviously. He sat back on the couch again, shell shocked and then relieved. Maybe it had all been an awful dream, despite how real it had felt. Even so, he still felt a nagging sense of urgency in his gut. The boys might find it odd, but he felt like he needed to get Jihoon and Guanlin close to him just for his peace of mind.

“Jihoon, Guanlin,” Minhyun’s voice was shaky, and he cleared his throat. “Can you two come here?” The boys looked confused, but they got up off the couch and started walking over to where Minhyun was getting to his feet.

“What’s-?” Jihoon began.

At that moment, the floor began to shake beneath them, and Daehwi let out a scream of alarm. Minhyun felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on him. ‘It’s happening again,’ he thought numbly. The tremors stopped for a second.

“What was that?” Daehwi asked, sounding scared. Minhyun took the momentary pause to pull Jihoon and Guanlin closer to him, far away from where the disaster had occurred in his dream (was it really a dream?) earlier. A second later, the ceiling caved in with a great cacophony of noise over the couch, smashing through the floor of the lounge. All the other boys screamed, sending Minhyun's ears ringing.

“Oh my god!” Guanlin blurted, followed by a string of words Minhyun couldn't understand. He startled so badly he nearly jumped out of Minhyun’s grasp.

“We could’ve died!” Jihoon babbled, staring at the spot where the couch used to be with wide eyes. “We were just there!” He looked to Guanlin and then Minhyun, as if one of them would have an explanation.

“Minhyun!” Daehwi jumped out of his chair and ran to cling to the older boy, fingers tightening like vices in Minhyun’s shirt.

Daehwi’s reaction jolted Minhyun back to the present. “We need to get out of here,” Minhyun said, trying to sound confident. “The room could still be unstable.” He wondered how closely this scenario would follow his dream as he ushered the boys out the door. If it was the same, he wouldn’t have much time before the second tremor. Minhyun looked down the hallway, and found Daniel and Seongwoo running up to them.

“Are you all okay?!” Daniel yelled, frantically looking over the group. “There was a huge tremor and part of the wall in the practice room fell down!”

“Where are the others?” Minhyun asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer already. 

“Sungwoon said he had to use the bathroom,” Seongwoo said, frowning as if trying to recall more information.

“Jisung said he had to make a call and went into another of the practice rooms,” Daniel added, oblivious to the deja vu Minhyun was experiencing.

“Jaehwan, Woojin, and Jinyoung were going to wait in the hair and makeup room,” Daehwi said, pointing into the hallway over the fissure that had formed from the first tremor.

Minhyun took a deep breath before looking at Daniel and Seongwoo. “You all need to get out of here. I’ll look for the others.”

“There’s no way I’m letting you stay here alone,” Seongwoo said, frowning.

“You need to get the kids out of here,” Minhyun insisted, looking at Jihoon, Guanlin, and Daehwi pointedly. The reminder brought the other boy up short.

“Fine,” he finally said. Seongwoo turned to Daniel. “We’ll take the stairs. Maybe we can find our manager or someone and they can get help.” He herded the others toward the stairs, watching them all hurry down them. Seongwoo turned to look at Minhyun. “Just come back, okay?”

“I’ll try,” Minhyun replied, rushing off to where he remembered Sungwoon was. The bathroom was at the end of the hall, and he was grateful that he didn’t have to waste time checking the other rooms along the way for members. “Sungwoon!” he burst into the bathroom to see the boy, stumbling out of one of the stalls. “Are you okay?” 

“Hit my head when everything started shaking,” Sungwoon replied, rubbing the back of his head. “I couldn’t get my eyes to focus for a minute. What happened?”

“Not sure,” Minhyun replied. “But the building is coming down. We need to get out of here.” Sungwoon nodded and followed Minhyun as they burst out of the bathroom. He dragged Sungwoon after him down the hallway, when suddenly the ground started shaking again. Minhyun cursed silently. He’d forgotten about the second tremor. Both boys were knocked into the wall from the vibrations, and when it stopped he saw the crack in the ground that had led to his demise earlier behind them.

“Whoa,” Sungwoon said, staring at the crack slack jawed. “That would’ve been bad if we were there.”

Minhyun nodded. “We need to find the others and get out of here.”

“No arguments here.” The two of them began to search through the remaining rooms that Minhyun hadn’t had the chance to examine the first time around, Minhyun taking the doors on the left and Sungwoon taking the right.

“Here!” Sungwoon yelled, drawing Minhyun’s attention. The other boy was pointing to a door that was blocked from opening by debris. A glance through the window revealed that Jisung was in the room, motioning for the two of them to run. “We have to get him out of there!” Sungwoon began pulling rocks out of the way of the door, and Minhyun followed suit despite their leader’s protests.

After a nerve-wracking five minutes of clearing rocks, wood, and bits of ceiling, the rubble was finally loose enough for the two boys to force the door open. Jisung barely managed to squeeze through the gap they’d created.

“Thanks,” Jisung managed, looking tired. Now that Minhyun could see him clearly, he noticed that Jisung was covered in dirt and dust, and there was a cut on his forehead that was bleeding alarmingly.

“You need to get to a doctor,” Minhyun said worriedly.

“It’s just a scratch,” Jisung assured him. “What about the others?”

“Daniel, Seongwoo, Jihoon, Guanlin, and Daehwi got to the stairs,” Minhyun said. “I don’t know about the others though. Daehwi said they were in the makeup room.” They all looked down the hallway with a treacherous looking crack cutting across it.

“That’s worrying,” Sungwoon muttered, looking nervous.

Without warning, the floor tilted and all of them were knocked off their feet, hitting the wall with bruising force. Mihyun struggled to right himself on the now forty five degree angle the floor had. All the debris from earlier had slid near them, kicking up dust and making him cough.

“The support must be collapsing!” Jisung yelled from somewhere behind Minhyun. “We need to go!” He heard Sungwoon shout an agreement nearby, and Minhyun hoped like hell that the stairs were still intact as they stumbled over bits of walls. 

He barely reached Jisung and Sungwoon, when saw a large chunk of concrete begin to teeter precariously over Jisung’s head from the floor above them. “Watch out!” he yelled shoving Jisung out of the way. The concrete gave way to gravity and toppled over, much to the others’ horror. There was a sharp pain on Minhyun’s back, and he swore he heard his bones cracking, and then nothing.

 

* * *

 

Minhyun woke up, kicking his legs out and breathing hard. His eyes darted around furiously, adjusting to the light of the room, only to find himself back in the lounge on a very uncomfortable couch.

“Did you have a bad dream?” Daehwi asked from his spot in the armchair. He looked worried by Minhyun’s reaction. 

“That sucks.” Minhyun’s head turned back around to see Jihoon and Guanlin on the other couch. “I had a bad dream the other night.”

“You two,” Minhyun said, trailing off as his voice sounded slightly hysterical. “Er, can you two come here for a second?” He got up off the couch.

“Sure, is something wrong?” Jihoon asked, looking worried. He and Guanlin got up from the couch and walked over toward Minhyun. “Do you want me to get Jisung? He usually talks to me when I have bad dreams.”

“It’s not that,” Minhyun shaking his head. “I just-“ The floor began to shake, and Minhyun’s stomach dropped. “Not again,” he muttered, waiting for the tremors to stop as he pulled Jihoon and Guanlin toward him. The shaking ceased, and Minhyun stared at the ceiling over the couch grimly. ‘One, two, three, four, five, six, se-‘ The ceiling crashed downward in the middle of Minhyun’s count, and he let out a breath. 

He tried to tune out the other boys’ screaming and babbling as best he could while shoving them all in the direction of the door. Daniel and Seongwoo ran up to them right on schedule, and he tried organizing his plan again. Last time he’d been able to get to Sungwoon and Jisung. After the first tremor, he had about fifteen minutes until the second, and then about ten before the floor tilted. His timing wasn’t exact, but it might just be enough to avoid the worst of the trouble.

“Take the kids outside,” Minhyun ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument as he stared Seongwoo and Daniel down. The two boys protested as they had before, but Minhyun remained firm. He was going to get everyone out this time.

“Just come back, okay?” Seongwoo said, fixing Minhyun with a look.

“I’ll do everything I can,” Minhyun replied, hoping his ideas would be good enough. He darted off toward the bathroom to retrieve Sungwoon. He was happy that they both managed to get a little further this time before the second tremor.

“Over here!” Minhyun said, running over to the room where Jisung was. He started digging away at the rubble, and Sungwoon rushed over to help.

“How did you know?” Sungwoon asked, throwing rocks over his shoulder, eyes darting to Jisung.

“Daniel mentioned Jisung was in one of the practice rooms,” Minhyun said, dodging the question. He was pretty sure this wasn’t the time to tell Sungwoon that he was apparently caught in a time loop that reset every time he died. They managed to clear away the debris fairly quickly, and soon Jisung was standing in front of them.

“You still need to see a doctor,” Minhyun said, eyeing Jisung’s wound with concern. Now that he actually was able to process it, the cut looked a lot deeper than Jisung had left on.

The leader waved him off. “It’s just a scratch. What about the others?” Minhyun relayed the same information as the first time, and the three of them ran down the hallway in search of the styling room, Minhyun starting a mental timer until the floor began tilting.

He was ready when it finally did. Jisung and Sungwoon were still thrown off their feet, but Minhyun was able to land easier against the wall by bracing himself properly, and then rushed over to where Sungwoon and Jisung were. He pulled them both to their feet and shoved them along toward the stairs. He looked up to see the concrete teetering over them and tackled Jisung forward so they were both out of the way when the chunk finally fell, smashing into pieces behind them.

“What-!?” Jisung yelled.

“Keep moving!” Minhyun insisted, now flying completely blind. “We have to find the others!”

They hurried onward, stumbling occasionally over loose debris and jumping onto fallen bits of wall until they reached a part of the hallway that hadn’t yet tilted. The stairs were still untouched, and Minhyun herded Jisung and Sungwoon toward them. “Go!” he said, “I’ll follow after I find the others.”

The two of them protested as he expected. “I’m the leader, the others are my responsibility!” Jisung insisted.

“You’re injured!” Minhyun shot back. “You need to get medical assistance.” He looked at Sungwoon desperately, hoping the other boy would back him up. Sungwoon gave Minhyun a slight nod.

“Minhyun’s right,” Sungwoon said. “We both know you’re just pretending it’s not that bad. You can’t help the others if you’re injured.” Jisung looked ready to protest again, but Sungwoon was already tugging him through the door to the stairs. “Good luck. Don’t do anything stupid.” 

Minhyun nodded as the two of them disappeared behind the stairway door. “Don’t do anything stupid,” Minhyun muttered, shaking his head. He looked down the hallway with the crack in the ground and crumbling walls with trepidation. “Too late.” He backed up a bit and took a run at the crack, jumping over it with an abundance of space to spare, considering it wasn’t that large. He wasn’t taking any chances after the cave in on his first death.

“Jaehwan! Jinyoung! Woojin!” he called, darting to look into all the rooms. They were all dark and hard to see into, slowing his progress frustratingly. Finally, he peered into a door on the left side of the hallway and saw movement inside. He swung open the door and tried to peer through the darkness.

As his eyes adjusted, he could make out two figures hunched over a pile of rubble frantically pulling at a huge iron bar. “Hey!” he called. One of the figures turned around and ran toward Minhyun, allowing to make out Woojin’s face. The boy had dirt smudging his skin and clothes, but thankfully looked relatively unharmed. Tear tracks were clear in the dirt on his face. “Minhyun!” the boy sobbed, grabbing Minhyun’s shirt and pulling him over frantically toward the pile of debris where he realized Jinyoung was tugging futilely at rocks that were too heavy to lift.

“What happened?” Minhyun asked, trying to calm the boy.

“The ceiling-!” Woojin said, flapping his arms widely. “It caved and Jaehwan was trapped under a bar and…” he trailed off, unable to form more words. Minhyun turned back to the debris and immediately set to work, trying to help Jinyoung shove a rock to the side.

“Is someone else here?” Jaehwan’s muffled voice came out of the pile of rubble.

“It’s Minhyun!” Jinyoung shouted back. “We’re going to get you out!”

“I told you to leave me and go outside!” Jaehwan shouted back. “Minhyun, please get these two to safety!”

“We aren’t leaving you here!” Jinyoung said stubbornly, tugging at an iron bar without much progress.

Minhyun bit his lip, and grabbed the other end of the bar, helping Jinyoung move it. It dropped to the side with a clang. The three of them began to dig frantically at the rocks chunks of concrete until Jaehwan’s tired face came into view. The boy looked at the three of them with a resigned expression.

“Jinyoung, Woojin, I think there might be some loose rocks at the back of the pile,” Jaehwan said. “Maybe try that.” The two boys immediately rushed around the back to do as suggested. Minhyun got up from where he was to follow them when Jaehwan looked to him. “Wait.”

“What is it?” Minhyun asked, feeling frantic. He was worried the rest of the building wouldn’t last much longer at this rate. He could hear metal groaning, and there might be another collapse in a matter of minutes.

“My leg is pinned,” Jaehwan said quietly. “I’ve been trying to get free, but I think there’s a huge beam or something sitting on it. I didn’t want to worry the kids.” He huffed. “I know I won’t be able to get it out in time. This building is coming down, and you have to get them outside.”

Minhyun set his jaw, nodding slightly and Jaehwan’s expression turned relieved. “I’ll get them out.”

“Thank you,” Jaehwan muttered. An idea was forming in Minhyun’s mind. He wasn’t sure it would work out, but if it didn’t he’d probably get another shot at it, right?

“Jinyoung, Woojin!” Minhyun called, walking around to the back of the pile of debris. “Us alone can’t get him out. You two need to run outside and tell the others. I’ll stay here and keep clearing what I can.”

“But-!” Woojin protested. 

“You both know I’m right,” Minhyun said, cutting the boy off. “Maybe a rescue team has arrived. They don’t know that Jaehwan is here, and someone needs to tell them.” The boys looked conflicted, but eventually the two of them darted out of the room, running toward the stairs. Minhyun let out a breath of relief, and then began digging through the rubble he could move on his own.

“Minhyun, I meant that you should go with them!” Jaehwan was yelling from under the debris. “Get out of here!” Minhyun ignored him, continuing to work at the pile. After clearing away a sizable amount of concrete, he finally exposed the bar pinning Jaehwan. It was a heavy looking iron bar that Minhyun doubted he’d be able to lift on his own. He briefly regretted sending the other boys away, and then mentally smacked himself for even considering the thought.

“I found the bar!” Minhyun yelled. The floor took that moment to shake worryingly. “Hang on!” He tugged at the bar, hoping vainly that he might be able to move it enough that Jaehwan could wriggle free before the building came crashing down. There was a loud crack, and Minhyun looked up in time to see a spiderwebbing pattern forming on the ceiling. 'You have to be kidding me,' Minhyun thought in despair.

“Run!” Jaehwan urged him. “I’ll be fine!”

“No time now,” Minhyun muttered under his breath. Even if he wouldn’t make it this time, maybe he’d be able to discover something, anything, that would help on his next shot. He kicked at some rocks, but nothing helped. He swore as the ceiling finally gave way, burying him.

 

* * *

 

Minhyun sat up with a gasp.

“Did you have a bad dream?”

 

This time, he managed to dig out the bar quicker, but it was still hopelessly stuck. He exhaled in frustration as he tried to lever the bar out of its position, but nothing seemed to work. He looked at the ceiling as it gave way and shook his head.

 

* * *

 

Minhyun almost buried his head in the armchair of the couch the next time he woke up.

“Are you alright?”

“Jihoon and Guanlin, could the two of you come here?”

 

This round found him trying to pull Jaehwan out from the front. It was useless; the boy was wedged too tightly under the bar. He grunted and finally dropped Jaehwan’s arms, giving it up for a lost cause this round. Minhyun could already see the cracks spiraling outward from the ceiling.

“You need to run!” Jaehwan cried, picking up on Minhyun’s lack of urgency.

Minhyun gave the boy a bitter smile. “There’s no point.”

 

* * *

 

“Just come back, okay?” Seongwoo said as he paused in the doorway to the stairs, concerned eyes burning into Minhyun’s resigned ones.

“We’ll see,” Minhyun said.

 

* * *

 

“Did you have a bad dream?”

“If only.”

 

* * *

 

“Jisung…” Minhyun said hesitantly. He was tired. He’d been wondering for a few cycles if anything might change if he told someone about the loop he was stuck in, but as he looked at his leader’s concerned and frantic face, he realized it wouldn’t help in any way. If anything, his leader would probably think Minhyun had hit his head and force him out of the building before he made it to Jaehwan, Jinyoung, and Woojin.

“What is it?” Jisung asked. “Are you hurt?”

“…It’s nothing.”

 

* * *

 

He had lost track of how many time he’d died before he finally had a breakthrough. With a grunt, he pulled out a rock from the bottom of the pile of debris. He’d approached the rubble from nearly every angle, but this time the rock gave way, sending concrete and dust flying. Minhyun coughed and waved a hand in front of his face.

“Jaehwan!” he called, praying he hadn’t further injured his friend.

“Over here!” Jaehwan replied, the dust settled enough that Minhyun could see that Jaehwan had managed to free himself and scramble to one of the walls. Minhyun rushed to join him, and flattened the both of them against a wall as the ceiling caved in like it had so many times before, leaving a sizable hole in the middle of the room.

“We could’ve died in that!” Jaehwan said, staring at the hole.

Minhyun nodded, inappropriate laughter bubbling in his chest. “Yeah.” He tugged the other boy to his feet. “We need to leave now.” They stumbled out of the room, and found the hallway worse for wear. The fissure from before had widened to the point where they would have to jump across if they wanted to make it to the stairs.

Jaehwan looked at Minhyun worriedly. “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Minhyun admitted. “I’ve never made it this far.” The boy looked at him questioningly, but Minhyun just shook his head. Hopefully Jaehwan would forget about it if they made it out of this cycle alive. “I’m going to jump across.”

Jaehwan’s eyes widened. “You could die!” 

“It’s the only option right now.” He took a deep breath, backed up, and then ran at the fissure, jumping as soon as he thought he could while still clearing it. He landed heavily on the other side, rolling a bit before he was able to get to his feet. “I’m okay!” he called to Jaehwan.

Jaehwan nodded, his brow furrowing in determination. The boy backed up like Minhyun had before running and then launching himself into the air. He stumbled on his landing, almost falling backward into the gap, but Minhyun grabbed his arm and pulled him to safety. They were right in front of the stairs then. Jaehwan yanked the door open and Minhyun hurried after them, taking the stairs two at a time.

The building shuddered again as they reached the first floor. “The rest of it is probably coming down,” Minhyun yelled to Jaehwan. They both tried to pick up the pace even more, pushing through the numbness in their veins as adrenaline pumped through their systems. Minhyun could see the door at the bottom, and he’d never felt more relieved in his life.

There was the tell tale groan of metal that Minhyun had heard so many times before at this point that he was sure the sound would revisit him in his dreams should he manage to make it out of this loop. He looked up to see a shattered bit of staircase railing finally snap off from the rest and begin crashing down the floors. He sighed.

Jaehwan stumbled in front of him, almost losing his footing, but just managing to stay upright. He yanked the door at the bottom open, and sunlight poured in from the outside. Minhyun could see the other members in the distance yelling and pointing at them. There was a crash as the railing hit the landing above them, sending cracks throughout the stair case.

“Maybe I’m just the one who’s not supposed to make it out,” Minhyun said, mostly to himself.

Apparently he wasn’t quiet enough, as Jaehwan spun around in the doorway with confusion etched on his face. “What was that?” There was an ominous creak as the stairway above them began to give.

“Go!” Minhyun shoved Jaehwan out the door just as the stairway collapsed.

 

* * *

 

It was dark. Minhyun scrunched up his eyes, expecting to hear Daehwi at any minute.

_“Did you have a bad dream?”_

When that didn’t come after a few seconds, he opened his eyes slowly. It was still dark when he opened his eyes instead of the blinding lights of the lounge. As his eyes adjusted, he could make out a number of dark jagged shapes over his head. He shifted slightly and dust billowed upwards, making him cough.

“Wha-?” he muttered, his mouth tasting like copper. He realized that his lip was bleeding. Not just that, but it felt like something was sitting on his chest, slowly crushing air from his lungs. His breaths were getting shallower. He managed to bring his hands up to shove at the obstruction and the object, concrete maybe, shifted off him enough that he could draw in deeper breaths.

His legs were also trapped under something heavy. Minhyun tried to sit up, but nearly banged his head on a rock above him. His pulse accelerated as he realized he was essentially buried alive. He almost wished he’d died in the collapse instead.

‘What do they say to do in these situations?’ Minhyun wondered frantically, thinking back to what he’d seen on the news every time there was a story of a cave in. ‘Should I just stay put? It’s not like I can do much else.’ He briefly had a horrifying thought of him trying to dig his way out and just ending up dumping more rocks and debris onto himself. Surely someone would dig him out eventually, right?

He focused on controlling his breaths, trying not to work himself up into a panic attack. Minhyun shut his eyes, casting his mind out for any happier memories lest he move too much and disturb the rocks on top of him. He tried to think about how happy he’d been to debut the first time with Nu’est, and then again with Wanna One. He tried to focus on his friend’s smiles and the hours spent in practice rooms, tired and sore but satisfied.

Minhyun wasn’t sure how long he laid there underneath all the rubble, but eventually he opened his eyes when light shone through his eyelids. Looking up, he could see cracks in the rocks, gradually widening as more was moved out of the way.

He opened his mouth to call out, but all that came out was a dry croak. Minhyun felt like he’d been swallowing chalk dust, but he cleared his throat and tried again. “Help!”

The work above him stopped for a moment, before resuming with even more urgency. He could hear muffled voices yelling to each other. The rocks cleared away more and more until Minhyun was staring at a man wearing a rescue uniform, carefully clearing a path toward him.

The man finally was close enough that Minhyun could clearly see his face. “Are you alright? Are you injured?”

“My legs,” Minhyun muttered. “I can’t move.”

The man looked down to see Minhyun’s legs buried under concrete and rocks. “Stay still. We’re going to get you out of here.”

Minhyun sighed. “I can do that.” The process was long, but eventually enough was cleared away that the man was able to help Minhyun to his feet. He tugged on a rope and slowly dragged Minhyun out of the hole of debris he’d been buried in. Minhyun had never thought seeing the sunlight was so beautiful. He was laid down on a stretcher and wheeled quickly toward an ambulance.

He could see a crowd had gathered around and news teams were taking photos as police tried to hold everyone back. Minhyun heard a flurry of shutters going off as he got closer to the crowd.

“Minhyun!” a voice yelled. Suddenly Jisung was hovering over him, a bandage wrapped around his head.

“Oh my god!” Someone yelled and before he knew it, his stretcher was surrounded on all sides by the worried faces of his group members. Daehwi, Guanlin and Jihoon all had tears tracking down their cheeks. Seongwoo, Daniel, and Jaehwan were clearly ready to panic, but trying to be mindful of the kids. Sungwoon had an arm wrapped around Woojin’s shoulder, and Jinyoung was hovering worriedly.

“Are you okay?!” Daehwi asked frantically. “You were missing for an hour!”

“He probably needs water and food,” Jihoon rambled. “Oh my god, his legs are bleeding a lot!”

“What?!” Guanlin looked down at Minhyun’s legs, color draining from his face.

“I’m sorry,” Jaehwan sniffed. “It’s because I-“

“It’s not your fault,” Minhyun replied weakly. He couldn’t even begin to describe how he’d probably died for every member in the group at least once, especially with his head spinning from exhaustion and dehydration.

“Please back up,” one of the paramedics ordered. “He needs to get to the hospital immediately.” The group all flinched and let the stretcher through. Minhyun was hoisted into the back of the ambulance and the doors were shut on his friends’ worried faces.

“Can I sleep?” he asked a paramedic.

She shook her head. “No. You might have a concussion.”

Minhyun sighed and tried to get comfortable on the gurney until he was scolded to stop moving around so much. It had been such a long day.

 

* * *

 

When he woke up, he was nearly blinded by fluorescent lights overhead. He winced and squeezed his eyes shut before trying again slowly. As the room came into view, he found himself in a hospital bed with machines beeping on either side of him. He looked to his right to see Jaehwan, Jisung, and Seongwoo sitting in uncomfortable looking plastic chairs, all three of them asleep. He smiled.

“You all should be at the dorm getting some rest,” he said softly, taking in the dark circles under their eyes. Jisung snapped awake from the sound of his voice.

“Minhyun!” he yelled, far too loudly. Luckily the bed next to Minhyun’s was empty, but his scream jolted Seongwoo and Jaehwan into consciousness.

“What?” Seongwoo asked, looking around wildly before his eyes finally landed on Minhyun. His eyes widened. “You’re awake!”

“I was so worried!” Jaehwan cried, looking ready to burst into tears. “I’m sorry, this is all my fault. I should have-“

“I told you, it’s not your fault,” Minhyun sighed. “I pushed you out of the way because I wanted to.”

“But you got hurt!” Jaehwan said, gesturing to the hospital bed and machines. “You should have just left me!”

“Then you’d have been dead,” Minhyun said with a frown. “Just be happy we’re all alive now.” Jaehwan bit his lip, but nodded.

“The others are going to be happy you’re finally awake,” Seongwoo cut in. “They’ve been scared sick. I think Daehwi’s going to hug you until you suffocate once he sees you.”

“Are they all okay?” Minhyun asked with concern. He eyed the bandage still on Jisung’s head.

“They are,” Jisung assured him. “You got all of us out of there somehow.”

“I don’t know how you did it,” Seongwoo said, shaking his head. “But you managed to find everyone in record time.”

‘Lots of practice,’ Minhyun thought a bit hysterically. “I’m just glad no one else got seriously injured.”

Jaehwan frowned. “You need to worry more about yourself. Even though you did save everyone, you could’ve died so many times!”

“What’s done is done,” Jisung sighed, grabbing Jaehwan’s shoulder before the boy could get too worked up. The leader leveled his gaze on Minhyun. “But Jaehwan’s right. Be more conscious of your actions in the future. We all care about you. If you had died…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “Oh, and you might want to try looking at your phone whenever you feel up to it. I’ve been fielding calls from Nu’est for the last few days.”

“Days?” Minhyun asked. “How long was I out?”

“Forty eight hours,” Seongwoo responded. “All of us have been switching around sitting with you at the hospital.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out Minhyun’s phone, setting it on the tray attached to the hospital bed. 

“I’ll go get a nurse and let them know you’re awake,” Jisung said. “Try not to move around too much. The doctors say you’ll probably be able to come back to the dorms in about a week, though you definitely won’t be performing for a good while.” He left, and Minhyun laid back on the pillows.

“So,” he said, breaking the silence after a minute. “What was the reaction like among our fans?”

Both Jaehwan and Seongwoo winced. “It was…an uproar,” Seongwoo said. “Honestly, you’re better off not knowing.” He shuddered. 

“They’re calling you a hero, though,” Jaehwan piped up. “And they aren’t wrong.”

Minhyun smiled. “Thanks.”

“It’s the truth,” Jaehwan replied sincerely. A nurse appeared in the doorway with a syringe of something, getting their attention.

“Hello there,” she said to Minhyun with a smile. “We’re glad you’re awake. You were severely dehydrated when you came in, and you had some serious gashes on your legs. Luckily, they should heal up fine if you stay off them for a while and don’t attempt any strenuous activity. But for now, we’re going to give you some pain killers and you’ll have to rest up here.”

Minhyun sighed. “That’s to be expected, I suppose.” She gave him another smile and walked over to pick up one of the tubes attached to his arm.

“This will probably make you tired, so I’d finish up any conversations now so you can get some rest.”

He nodded as she pushed the plunger down. “Thank you.” She exited quickly afterward, and he turned back to the other members.

“Well, I guess it’ll still be awhile before I’m back at the dorms.”

“We’ll visit you, don’t worry,” Jaehwan said.

“Yeah, our schedules are cleared until further notice,” Seongwoo added. “And I’m sure Daehwi and Guanlin are going to want to visit you.” Minhyun could feel the pain killers working in his system as the room started to get fuzzier around the edges.

Jisung picked up on Minhyun’s condition and smiled. “Just get some sleep now. We’ll be here when you wake up.” And then everything went black.

 

* * *

 

Minhyun was sitting in his bunk, propped up with a number of pillows and reading a book that Jonghyun had sent him. He was grateful, as there wasn’t much else he could do while recovering other than read. Every now and then, other members would duck in to check on him and ask if he needed anything, but for the most part he was alone as they went about their schedules.

He looked up as the door cracked open and Jaehwan poked his head in. “Hey, how are you doing?”

“Good,” Minhyun replied, marking his page and setting his book down. Jaehwan took this as an invitation to sit down on the edge of Minhyun’s bed.

“It shouldn’t be too much longer before you can walk around more,” Jaehwan said, glancing at Minhyun’s crutches in the corner. “You’ll probably be back in the practice room before you know it.” Minhyun laughed. There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Jaehwan shifted. “Hey, what did you mean before?”

“What?” Minhyun asked, confused.

“When we were in the building,” Jaehwan clarified. “You said some weird stuff like you ‘hadn’t made it that far’ or that you were the one who wasn’t supposed to make it out. What did you mean?”

Minhyun stiffened, fingers twitching on the edge of his blanket. He'd hoped that Jaehwan would have forgotten his words after so much had happened. “I…” he was prepared to make up something, but changed his mind after looking at Jaehwan’s face. “It’s a long story. You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Jaehwan frowned. “Try me.”

Minhyun sighed. “Alright, but it’s pretty unbelievable, and maybe a little sad.” He settled back against his pillows and motioned for Jaehwan to get comfortable next to him. As soon as the other boy settled in, he took a deep breath. “It started when I woke up in the lounge that day on the most uncomfortable couch ever…”


End file.
